primal anxiety

in psychoanalytic theory, the most basic form of anxiety, first experienced when the infant is separated from the mother at birth and suddenly has to cope with the flood of new stimuli. See also primal trauma.

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Psychology term of the day

February 25th 2025

inner estrangement

the feeling that external objects are unfamiliar and unreal. [defined by Austrian psychoanalyst Paul Federn (1871–1950)]